Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Note that the term "upgrade client" is a misnomer. There is no upgrade. The ConfigMgr 2007 client is uninstalled as part of the process and then the 2012 client is installed. There are various methods to install the 2012 client.

When you are migrating from ConfigMgr 2007 to 2012 it is very important to avoid overlapping boundaries - it is supported for content location but not for site assignment. Therefore do not configure your boundary groups for site assignment and avoid using the automatic client push until you are finished your migration.

The simplest way to install the 2012 client is to use the manual client push using the option "Install the client from a specified site". In this way no further configuration is necessary.

I like to carry out the migration on a site by site basis (clients and DP at the same time) and thoroughly test as I go. You can also migrate all the clients before the DPs as the DPs can be shared between the 2007 and 2012 clients. It's your choice.

Monday, 29 July 2013

I had this issue during a customer migration from ConfigMgr 2007 to 2012. I got the error while sharing distribution points. I enabled DP sharing which initiated the Data Gathering process. However if failed with the following errors in the migmctrl.log. ERROR: [Worker]: System.InvalidOperationException: Column 'DisplayName' does not allow DBNull.Value. ERROR: [MigMCtrl]: FAILED to EXECUTE job. error = Unknown error 0x80131509, 80131509

I looked at the properties of the 2007 boundaries. The “Description” box was empty in some cases. The Data Gathering process did not seem to like this. Once I entered a description the job completed successfully.

Display
temporary notification to the user that indicates the interval before the user
is logged off or before the computer restarts – 90 mins

Display
a dialog box that the user cannot close which displays the countdown interval
before the user is logged off or before the computer restarts – 15 mins

Deployment

I like to choose the option above when deploying the updates - show all notifications to the user and show in software center.I also like to configure update deployments with a deadline of 1 week away (this is the default setting).Updates availableWhen the device retrieves policy the user is notified that updates are available.

User receives notification. The user is invited to "Click here for options".

If the user "clicks for options" they are informed that updates are available with a deadline of 1 week. They are invited to "Apply all required changes now" or can click to "Remind me later". Most users will choose "Remind me later".

The software update information is available in the Software Center.

Deadline

When the deadline arrives the updates are downloaded to the computer cache. Note that this does not happen exactly at the deadline time.

It is not a great idea to deploy updates to thousands of
machines at exactly the same time. Therefore each client
adds a random time of up to two hours to the installation specific deadline
time. This random additional time isn't
configurable. (Note that Deadline Randomization is now disabled by default in SP1).

RestartNow the restart countdown commences (90 minutes by default).

The user is notified.

The required restart can be seen in the Software Center

Click the balloon notification to see the dialog box. The user can Hide the notification at this time. Note that even when the balloon notification disappears the restart timer remains in the system tray. The user can click on the restart timer icon in the system tray at any time to open the dialog box (assuming of course you haven't hidden notifications in the system tray).

User receives additional notification of pending restart, which can be hidden.

Countdown has entered last 15 minutes. The user is notified by a dialog box and the notification cannot be hidden or minimised. It will remain in the foreground until the computer restarts. All other applications remain in the background - no excuses for the user.

1. I could not browse to \\ConfigMgr_server\F$
from remote computer
2. I could connect to http://ConfigMgr_server/reports
from a remote computer but the page did not render properly and reports could
not run. This was OK runninghttp://localhost/reports
locally on the server. I also could not run reports from a remote Admin console
3. Updates issue: Failed to sync update. Error The Microsoft Software
License Terms have not been completely downloaded and cannot be accepted.

I couldn't
understand as I had deployed the exact same combination of products several
times before with no issue. Then I found this KB

You cannot access an Internet Information Services (IIS) website that is
hosted on a removable storage device

The WSUS content directory is not accessible. System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path
'drive:\WSUS\WsusContent\anonymousCheckFile.txt' is denied.The server is failing to download some updates.

These issues were resolved by a Cumulative Update released in April 2013, and
then I realised why I was having the issue. I had been unable to fully patch my
Windows Server 2012 box (due to customer network constraints).

I installed the update and it resolved problems 1 & 2 instantly. I then
re-installed WSUS and my Software Update Point - problem 3 resolved, and all
updates successfully synced.

Back to Migration menuBack to ConfigMgr 2012 menuThe following tasks should be carried out before attempting to migrate ConfigMgr 2007 objects to ConfigMgr 2012.1. Collections: Collections containing both users and systems or devices are not supported in ConfigMgr 2012 and can't be migrated – create separate collections2. Software Updates: add the WSUS role and the Software Update Point as described in this section:http://www.gerryhampsoncm.blogspot.ie/2013/04/sccm-2012-sp1-step-by-step-guide-part.htmlClassifications and products must match the ConfigMgr 2007 environment and be successfully synchronized. If a single update is missing from an entire update package the migration of that package will fail.

3. Package Source Directory: copy your source share to the new server (using your favourite file copying software), while retaining folder structure and permissions.If you are using local paths (F:\Sources\Microsoft\Office\2013) as your package source directories you are in good shape. The packages should migrate with no bother. However if you have used UNC paths (\\Server\Sources\Microsoft\Office\2013) you will need to change this for all the affected packages (\\NewServer\Sources\Microsoft\Office\2013).Luckily Coretech have provided a free utility to help you to do this.